Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Up and down

So I didn't get into Uni. Which means I won't have a student card. Which means I won't get cheap travel. Which means I won't be visiting Australia.Also means I'll have to think of something else to do. The thought of that makes me feel so tired. Part of me is excited by the idea of travelling and seeing new things, but then, part of me is exhausted by the thought of always travelling and seeing new things. People around me are starting to settle down, buy houses, get married, have children. And here I am trying to think of which country I should live in next. Not really how I expected my life to be.I guess the thing I should do is focus on music. It's about the only thing I have any real control over. Work on my own stuff for the rest of the year and then move somewhere a little more... enthusiatic about live music and try again. I almost wish it was 20 years ago and I could just meet any nice man and get married. Almost.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Italia - Campioni Del Monde!

July the 9th 2006. This is a day I'll be telling my grandkids about. "I remember the night I was in Sorrento when Italy won the World Cup".

The feeling of standing in the middle of a small Southern Italian town wrapped in an Italian flag, drinking wine on the street and cheering along with almost the entire population as Italy won the penalty round to become the Campioni del Monde is one that I can't really describe. And there was a full moon.The crowd literally errupted after the last goal. Flags, fireworks, mini bombs that seemed to explode next to your feet, scooters carrying eight people and ten huge flags each, cars and trucks over flowing with people painted in green, red and white and that song! The Italian team's theme song was the bass line from "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes. I will never hear that song and not think of Italy again. We (Brett, Melissa, Hannah and I) watched the celebrations, ate gelati and drank wine until we ran into Andrea, the waiter I had met a couple of nights ago dancing down the road with a huge flag in his hands and on his face. So, he and his friends took us to a club and we partied until the early hours of the morning.When we had danced ourselves out, we attempted to get a cab but as there was none, Andrea took us back to our camp site two at a time on his moped. There is nothing quite as thrilling as racing up a winding cliff road on the back of a tiny scooter at 3am in Italy. Then Andrea, who seemed to have taken a fancy to me, took me down a "road" (which I swear had steps) to a cliff that had the most amazing view of the bay of Naples. I must admit it was a little bit romantic. The total Sorrento experience. Apparently, I am welcome back whenever I like.

I left early the next morning for Rome where I spent one sleepless night (way too hot) before flying back to Berlin for a night. I stayed with Bianca, who I'd run into in the subway on my last night in Berlin the week before, in her fabulously cool and cheap apartment in the East. She had some other Aussie dancers (none of whom lived in Australia anymore... who does nowadays anyway???) staying with her, so we caught up on gossip, ate some tasty pasta (rivalling some of the ones I'd had in Italy), drank some wine and ended up at the local chatting until could barely keep our eyes open. On the way back home we felt a bit hungry (naturally at 1am), so as we passed a bakery that had it's window open and convinced them to sell us some fresh bread. There is nothing better than fresh warm bread at 1am in the morning!

When I woke up the next morning, I managed to get to the airport with 5 mins to spare to check in! But I made it... even if I had to run. With a backpack. In 30 degree heat. Not pretty.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful and as soon as I got back to Helsinki I came down with a nasty cold so I've been lying low for the last couple of days.It's nice to be back, but I'm still dreaming of Italy.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

By the sweet Sorrento moon...

Italia! Che Bella!Forgive my lack of updates, but as soon as I arrived in Naples I got too busy enjoying myself.I stayed in a fantastic hostel called Fabric which is in an adorable (run by the Mafia) town in Naples called Portici. By the coast, no tourists (except for us hostelers) and most importantly... cheap cheap cheap food and clothes! Nearly blew my budget here.I met some lovely Irish girls in the pool on the first night as we attempted to choreograph some simple syncronized swimming... when I say pool I actually mean blow up waist height wading pool. So after bonding over ... well, alcohol really, I decided to head off to The Isle of Capri with them the following day. Capri is somewhat of a disappointment. I mean, It was beautiful and the water was exeptionally amazing, but there were SO many tourists it was hard to actually hear any Italian! And where were all the good looking men???? However, we managed to entertain ourselves eating gelato and trying to get invited on to one of the enormous yachts in the harbour. We were not successful.So we caught the boat back to Sorrento where we happened to meet Andrea/Andrew in a little (huge) restaurant in town. This young man has lived in Sorrento all his life but due to his English mother has the broadest Northern London accent when he speaks English. Naturally we all flirted with him, recieved free drinks and his number. The next day we headed off to Pompei which was pretty amazing. Unfortunately, half way through we got stuck in a HUGE summer storm. Lightning, thunder and bucket loads of rain. Unperturbed (for at least awhile) we continued through the city in search of the corpses... which eluded us. Finally, soaked to the skin and exhausted, we gave up and headed back to Portici.After a shower, dry clothes and a fantastic pizza (and much wine) we ended up back at the hostel which was also a club. The owners were having a party and after mentioning I was a singer, one of them organised a couple of guitarists and before I knew it I was on stage singing Hendrix, Beatles and REM to a room full of drunk Italians and back packers!The next day I parted ways with the Irish girls and headed off to meet an Aussie couple and an English girl in Sorrento. And considering calling my local contact. Exhausted by this stage, I spent most of the time at the camping ground beach, lying in the sea or on the "oh so comfortable" rocks, working on my tan. Preparing myself for the following night... Italy vs France in the final. But more on that tomorrow...

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Ciao Bella!

Man, it's hot.I arrived in Rome and managed to catch the last half of the Germany Italy match and was most disappointed when Italy won. However, minutes later as I was sitting with my new found Canadian friend Keith on a main Roman street drinking coolish beer and watching thousands of crazy Italians speeding past on scooters and hanging out of cars... I felt somewhat better. And also had discovered where the White Stripes stole their famous riff from.However, hours later back in the stinking hot hostel, the constant horn blowing was beginning to lose its charm. Get me the fuck out of here.

So, I jumped on the first train to Naples. And here I am...

Oh yeah, I also spent a few days in Berlin. This is a very cool city, but not a great one to explore on your own. Met some people during a pub crawl, but then got too pissed to actually exchange any contact info anyway!Then on the last night I met Bianca, from Perth. We went to Uni together. We happened to meet in the S Bahn. Now I have somewhere to stay on my return journey. Life's weird that way.

Can't be fucked writing any more because I'm absolutely starving and need to shower.Stay tuned for more installments from the reluctant traveller...